Innovations in medical technologies are one of the leading areas of economic growth in the world. Whether new technologies take the form of pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology, information technology of some combination of these innovations, the opportunities for both private enterprise and social welfare are substantial. However, these innovations are not without cost, and require reimbursement from either a privately or publicly financed health care delivery system to enter the marketplace.
This course aims to provide knowledge of the concepts, data, and methodology required to critically evaluate new medical technologies in order to secure financial investment, reimbursement, and regulatory compliance objectives, such as FDA approval. The course is designed to provide understanding of the analytic tools needed to evaluate medical technologies. After completing this course, students will have the skills needed to:
- Understand the reimbursement systems financing medical technology use.
- Understand the role of government and regulatory agencies in the development and use of new medical technologies.
- Identify a population to be served by a medical technology.
- Use health care data to evaluate a medical technology.
- Perform cost/benefit and cost/effectiveness analysis of a new technology.

From the lesson

Methodological Approaches and Considerations

Module 4 brings everything together from the first three modules. We will go into more detail about some of the more common quantitative methodologies you may encounter with an evaluation. We will talk about incorporating the effects of uncertainty and time into a medical technology evaluation model as well as the type of models that allow for the dynamic nature of patient responses to medical technology.